President Obama pardons turkeys ... then they die

(ABC NEWS) -- They may have avoided the Thanksgiving dinner table, but it turns out
the turkeys pardoned by President Obama haven't been so lucky after
all.

Last year, the president ceremoniously spared Cobbler and his
alternate Gobbler, two 40-pound birds from Rockingham Country, Va.,
sending them off to live a charmed life on a sprawling historic estate.

"From here these two lucky birds will be swept up in a whirlwind of
fame and fortune that will ultimately lead them to Mount Vernon, where
they will spend their twilight years in the storied home of George
Washington," Obama said at last year's ceremony.

But their freedom was short lived.

Cobbler, who, according to the White House, loved cranberries and the musical stylings of Carly Simon, was reportedly euthanized in August. And Gobbler, described as "a patient but proud bird," passed suddenly in February.

In fact, all eight of the birds pardoned by Obama have reportedly moved on to greener pastures.

To be fair, the average turkey lifespan is roughly three to four
years and Obama is not the first president with a poor track record in
this department.

In 2001, ABC's John Stosselvisited the farm where the saved birds had been sent to live out their golden years and found the turkey pen empty.

"We usually just find 'em and they're dead," the farmer told him,
before explaining that the birds are bred for eating and not retirement.

"Their flesh has grown so fast, and their heart and their bones and their other organs can't catch up," he explained.

The somewhat misleading tradition of sparing turkeys dates back to
1963, when President Kennedy sent that year's gift from the National
Turkey Federation back to the farm, declaring "we'll just let this one
grow." President George H.W. Bush was the first to grant a turkey an
official presidential pardon in 1989.

President Obama will continue the tradition next Wednesday, when he will grant two more turkeys their freedom.